1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a container, and more particularly to a lid operation arrangement for a container, wherein the lid panel is decelerated to cover at the cover opening of the container body in a hydraulic manner via a gear unit.
2. Description of Related Arts
A conventional container for storing predetermined objects, such as a trash container, usually comprises an outer container body and an inner container body disposed in the outer container body, wherein the inner container body has a receiving cavity formed therein and an opening communicated with the receiving cavity. The container further comprises a cover panel movably mounted on top of the outer container body for selectively opening and enclosing the receiving cavity for allowing the user to dispose predetermined objects into the inner container body. When the container is not in use, the receiving cavity is substantially enclosed for physically separating the objects disposed in the receiving cavity from an exterior of the container.
In a number of situations, such as when a person is holding a lot of trash in both of his hands, it is inconvenient or difficult for the person to lift up the cover panel in that the person simply does not have spare hands to lift up the cover panel. If the person nevertheless tries to lift up the cover panel, he risks dropping all the trash in his or her hands onto the floor.
Because of this deep-seated difficulty with respect to the above-mentioned conventional container, there exist several other kinds of containers in which the cover panels are mainly designed to be actuated by feet instead of hands. These containers have substantially solved the problem of inconvenient or difficult lifting of the cover panel when the user has a lot of say, trash, in his or her hands. However, they create other problems. For example, a substantially amount of force has to be applied to the paddle in order to lift up the cover panel. This may perhaps pose a certain degree of difficulty for such users as children and elderly. Moreover, since the operation of the containers is mainly relies on stepping force on the part of the user, the paddle would break very easily especially when people apply unknowingly excessive stepping force on it.
In recent years, electrically-operated containers have been developed in which the cover panel is largely driven by electrical components so as to achieve automatic opening or closing of that cover panel. For most of these electrically-operated containers, such as electrically-operated trash cans, a sensor is utilized for detecting a target movement, such as a movement of the person throwing trash, in a detection range, so that when that person stands in that detection range, the sensor will send a signal to the relevant electrical components so as to automatically lift up the cover panel, and when the user has left the detection range, the sensor will send a corresponding signal to those electrical components for automatically lowering down the cover panel so as to close the container.
Accordingly, such foot-operated container or electrically-operated container has several common drawbacks. The operation mechanism is supported between the outer and inner container bodies in order to operatively link to the cover panel. In order to keep the original size of the outer container body, a portion of the surrounding wall of the inner container must be indented to create a compartment for receiving the operation mechanism thereat. In other words, the volume of the receiving cavity of the inner container body will be reduced.
Second, it is difficult to effectively control the actual physical motion of the cover panel, especially when the cover panel is lowered down to cover the container body. More specifically, when the cover panel is pivotally moved to enclose the outer container body, the gravitational force (due to the weight of the cover panel) has largely been ignored by many so that the cover panel is usually subject to excessive force when being driven to enclose the outer container body. As a result, noise will be unavoidably generated when the cover panel hits the outer container body. It is suggested that some sort of mechanisms is required to actually controllably resist the gravitational force when the cover panel is dropped to enclose the outer container body so as to minimize the noise generated by the cover panel.
Some cited arts taught a damper mechanism for slowing the downward motion of the cover panel. For example, Yang, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,922,024 and 7,494,021, taught a damper mechanism secured to a rear area of the base of the outer container, wherein the damper mechanism comprises an air piston reciprocately received in a damper housing for applying an opposing force against the downward motion of the cover panel, such that when the foot pedal is depressed by the foot of the user, the air piston is pushed upwardly inside the damper housing. When the force on the foot pedal is released, the weight of the cover panel will push the air piston downwardly within the damper housing for slowing the downward motion of the cover panel.
As it is mentioned above, the damper mechanism as taught by Yang is supported between the outer and inner container bodies such that the volume of the inner container body will be reduced. In addition, the damper mechanism cannot be incorporated with the electrically-operated container. Since the air piston is upwardly moved when the cover panel is driven to lift, the motorized unit of the electrically-operated container will require additional lifting power to move the air piston upwardly. In other words, it is a waste of electrical power of the battery for the electrically-operated container to operate the cover panel.
Since the cover panel is initially dropped down to its closed position by means of gravity, the cover panel cannot be pivotally lifted up more than 90 degrees, i.e. the cover panel is moved at a vertical opened position from a horizontal closed position. If the cover panel is pivotally lifted at more than 90 degrees, the cover panel cannot be dropped down by its gravitational force. Therefore, the opening angle of the cover panel must be configured lesser than 90 degrees. For enhancing the practice use of the container, the opening angle of the cover panel should be more than 90 degrees such that the user is able to easily access the receiving cavity of the inner container body and to remove the inner container body from the outer container body.
The downward motion of the cover panel is controlled by the frictional force between the air piston and the inner wall of the damper housing. Due to the wear and tear of the air piston, the frictional force between the air piston and the inner wall of the damper housing will be inevitably reduced after a period of continuous use. In other words, the opposing force will be weakened to provide the damper effect of the downward motion of the cover panel.
Furthermore, the downward motion of the cover panel is controlled by the opposing force generated by the damper mechanism. When the opposing force generated by the damper mechanism is increased, the cover panel will be dropped down slowly. In other words, when the opposing force generated by the damper mechanism is reduced, the cover panel will be dropped down quickly. It should be appreciated that the cover panel should be dropped down slowly in order to minimize the noise by the cover panel. Therefore, the opposing force generated by the damper mechanism should be increased. On the other hand, the depression force applied by the foot of the user at the foot pedal must be increased to overcome the greater opposing force generated by the damper mechanism. An excessive depression force at the foot pedal may accidentally damage the lifting rod, the damper mechanism, or even the cover panel itself. As a result, the damper mechanism as taught by Yang is not practice in use, especially is not designed for the electrically-operated container.